“This is an alternative take on the Supernatural universe—an interpretation inspired by its world and characters, but not bound by its strict timeline or canon. It’s about the emotions, the connections, and the moments that could have been. Just dive in and enjoy.”
A story told in feather and ash - Egyptian Gold
The barn door creaked, the sound too loud in the stillness as Sam pushed it open. A rush of cold air met them, carrying the scent of dust and something ancient.
The space beyond was too dark. Even with their flashlights, the shadows felt wrong like they were stretching and shifting, swallowing the light.
Two statues loomed against the far wall. Stone. Unmoving. Watching. One bore the head of a griffin, the other…
"What kind of mutt is that?" Dean snorted and pointed his gun in the direction of the statue. Elli rolled her eyes, just like Sam.
"That's Anubis, you stupid idiot!" she said and followed Sam further into the barn. They stopped in front of a wide, dark table that was placed opposite a kind of judge's desk.
“What is this?” Sam turned to the others. But before either of them could answer.
A voice low, rich, ancient, spilled from the darkness, curling through the barn like smoke.
"A legitimate and not uninteresting question, my dear Sam," said the voice. Then a tall figure emerged from the pockets. A man in a black robe with gold decorations, he looked oriental.
"What the... who is that?" Dean immediately looked hostile and ready to fight. Elli just frowned.
The man, or whatever he was, pointed with the golden staff in his hand to a golden scale next to the judge's desk. "I assume one of you two has paid more attention in vision and can therefore recall more knowledge of Egyptian mythology," he said with a gentle smile and looked first at Sam, then at Elli, who just swallowed.
“Osiris…”, she meant quietly. “God and judge of the dead and the underworld and also ruler of the underground world, the Duat. The dead must answer to him before they can enter the afterlife”, she went on. The guy just nodded with the same simple smile.
Dean scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Great. Just what we need—another supernatural judge, jury, and executioner.” He squared his shoulders, gripping his gun tighter. “Listen, pal, whatever this whole Egyptian People’s Court setup is? We’re not interested.”
Osiris tilted his head slightly, amused. “Oh, but this trial has already begun,” he said smoothly, and with a flick of his wrist, the barn doors slammed shut behind them.
Elli tensed. A cold weight pressed against her chest. Something wasn’t right.
The air felt thicker. Like something unseen had just wrapped around her, sinking into her skin, digging into her bones.
This wasn’t about Dean. She had thought, for sure, that Osiris would go after him first. But instead, Osiris’s eyes landed on her.
“Elizabeth Singer,” he said, her full name rolling off his tongue like he’d known it forever. “Daughter of Robert Singer. A hunter, a warrior, a woman with a heavy heart.” His dark eyes seemed to look right through her. “You carry so much guilt.”
Elli felt her throat tighten. No, no, no. This wasn’t supposed to be about her.
“What the hell is this?” Dean barked, stepping forward. “Why her?”
Osiris gave him a patient look. “Guilt is the weight that tips my scales, Dean Winchester. And your friend here…” He turned back to Elli, his gaze piercing. “She has enough of it to shatter the balance.”
“Step forward,” Osiris commanded, gesturing to the golden scale.
She didn’t move. She couldn’t. Her feet felt rooted to the dirt floor.
“Elli,” Sam whispered beside her. “It’s okay.”
Osiris smiled, but there was something cold behind it. “Shall we begin?”
And before Elli could react—before she could run—her body was yanked forward by some invisible force, her boots scraping against the dirt as she stumbled toward the judge’s desk.
It felt like Elli was trapped on that chair behind the desk. She couldn’t move in it, couldn’t back off her chair a little, just sitting up uncomfortably straight.
“Lucky for you boys, today it’s a open trial”, Osiris grinned a little and out of nowhere both of her foster brothers were pulled to the table that they had to sit down one left and the other one right next to her.
"During this hearing, we will question various witnesses, let's see what they have to say in your defense," continued the Egyptian god. "What a spectacle!"
Elli had to swallow, she couldn’t say anything. Her mouth got completely dry, from fearing what might come next. She couldn’t move feel her heart hammering inside her chest.
“Shall we start with our first witness?”, he grinned and pointed his golden scale on her.
It wasn’t just a feeling—it was a pull.
Elli barely had time to process it before she felt him. Warmth, energy, something deep and ancient, curling around her very soul like a tether had just snapped into place.
“What’s this bullshit?” Gabriel’s voice cut through the barn, sharp and filled with mocking amusement. But his eyes—his golden eyes locked onto hers first. Like he knew. Like he had felt it, too.
Her heart made a relieved little twist. But Osiris just tilted his head unimpressed.
Osiris merely smiled, unfazed by Gabriel’s sudden entrance. “Ah, the archangel appears,” he said, his tone neutral, but there was an edge of amusement behind it. “Did she call for you, or did you come on your own, trickster?”
Gabriel ignored him completely, his eyes immediately locking onto Elli. She looked… frozen. Her breathing was shallow, her fingers curled so tightly into fists on the table that her knuckles had turned white. His heart clenched.
“Ells?” His voice softened, but her eyes stayed locked on Osiris, like she was afraid to even acknowledge him.
“She didn’t call you, Archangel,” Osiris interrupted, drawing Gabriel’s attention back. “But that doesn’t matter. You were already on my list.”
Gabriel’s brow furrowed. “List?”
And then, before he could react, a force ripped him from where he stood, dragging him forward until he landed roughly in the chair beside Elli.
Gabriel never got thrown around. But this? This was something different. Something ancient. And it set his instincts on fire.
He tried to move—nothing. His grace flared, but it barely flickered against the weight keeping him in place.
Osiris chuckled as he turned his attention back to Elli. “Shall we begin?”
Elli finally found her voice. “What the hell is this?” Her tone was raw, her eyes darting to Gabriel, scared.
Osiris simply tilted his head. “A fair trial, of course,” he said smoothly. “One in which the weight of your guilt determines your fate. And oh, child…” His dark eyes gleamed. “You have so much guilt.”
Elli clenched her jaw, refusing to speak.
Dean looked ready to explode. “You wanna drag my sister into some twisted guilt trip, fine. But leave him out of it,” he snapped, nodding towards Gabriel.
Osiris smiled. “Oh, but don’t you see, Dean? They are connected.” He turned his gaze to Gabriel now. “And our dear Archangel has more guilt than he realizes.”
Gabriel’s jaw ticked. “I don’t feel guilt, pal,” he scoffed. “Not my thing.”
Osiris merely smiled wider. “Oh?” He waved a hand.
And just like that, the first witness appeared.
A man in a crisp suit. Sandy hair. Cold, dead eyes.
Gabriel’s breath hitched. “No.”
Elli turned to look at the man, her stomach twisting.
Osiris gestured toward him. “Ah, the first of many,” he mused. “Gabriel, meet your witness: Your father.”
A silence heavier than anything else crushed the barn.
Chuck—God himself—stood there, smiling lightly, like this was all just a casual reunion.
Gabriel swallowed hard. “Fuck.”
“This isn’t my fucking father… he wouldn’t take part in your stupid game voluntarily…”, Gabriel made a face as he said that, but Osiris just grinned.
“Oh, does it matter if it’s the real his or not?”, he shut back and pointed on Chuck with a gesture that meant their were about to start the trial.
Elli scoffed. “Oh girl, don't act up too much, do you? We’ll get to you soon enough, since your both guilty relies on one another’s”, the Egyptian god grinned before turning back to chuck.
Chuck just stood there, no motions in his eyes, one couldn’t tell if he was pissed or fully to destroying Gabriel shortly.
“Tell me, God,” Osiris mused, as if testing the weight of the word. “What is it that you believe Gabriel feels most guilty about?”
Chuck’s face still didn’t flinch or showed any other reaction. His eyes were cold.
“Being a coward and leaving his brothers behind…”, he just said tonelessly. Gabriel’s teeth clenched.
The barn tilted around them, the weight of that single word hitting Gabriel like a sledgehammer. His entire body locked up.
Chucked turned right to Gabriel. “Abandoning your family. Your brothers. Your duty. Your home.”Gabriel’s vision blurred. He wanted to laugh, to scoff, to throw back a snarky retort, but his throat had closed up.
This wasn’t to find out if his actions were justified, it just to make Gabriel feel even more guilty and Chuck… he was the perfect match to grew these feelings in Gabriel.
Elli felt her own chest tighten. “Gabriel,” she whispered. But Chuck wasn’t finished.
Chuck took a step closer.
“And worst of all?” His voice softened. Became something almost gentle.
Gabriel’s entire body went still. Chuck turned, finally looking at Elli. Like she was the evidence he had been waiting to present.
“Tell me, Gabriel.” His voice was almost a whisper. “Did you really think she’d still be here when you came crawling back? That she’d still love you? That you’d deserve it?”
The sound of metal against metal rang through the barn.
Elli’s breath caught in her throat.
Gabriel stopped breathing. The silence was suffocating. Elli felt her pulse hammering in her throat. She wanted to scream at Chuck, tell him to shut up, to stop, but deep down…
Gabriel’s hands clenched into fists on the table. He tried to share a look with Elli, but she had already locked her eyes to the wooden furniture before her, avoiding his gaze.
“So, Chuck. What was Gabriel’s purpose according to the humans?”, Osiris turned back to Chuck again.
He looked at Gabriel, who still made a tense face. “He was supposed to be the trickster. And my messenger. He was supposed to announce humanity my will”, he explained.
“And did he fulfilled his duty?”, Osiris pointed his staff at Gabriel to manifest his question.
Chuck took a deep breath. “No.”
That hit Gabriel. He always did his best not to break under the duties he was put on, and it was never just being the trickster or being the messenger of heaven’s will.
Chuck flicked a glance toward Osiris. “You should see how humanity talk about him. Oh, Gabriel’s fun, he’s charming, he’s witty—but serious? No.” He scoffed. “He’s not meant to be serious. He’s meant to entertain. To amuse.”
The weight of the words settled on Gabriel’s chest like a pile of stones.
Elli could see it—the way his jaw clenched so tight it might crack, the way his shoulders locked, the way his fingers trembled where they curled against the wood.
“The joke isn’t funny anymore, Gabriel. The joke’s on you now…”, Chuck said quietly.
Gabriel’s entire body went still. The golden scale shifted. The sound of metal against metal rang through the barn.
Elli’s breath hitched in her throat. “Stop it,” she whispered, barely audible.
Chuck didn’t even look at her. His eyes were locked onto Gabriel.
“You fooled yourself. Nobody’s gonna love you if you can’t display your way, and nobody’s gonna hold your hand to guide you through, it’s fucking up for you to understand, boy! Nobody’s gonna heal your so called pain…”, his voice cut deep into Gabriel’s grace, Elli felt it.
Gabriel shot to his feet, chair scraping against the floor. His wings flared in his shadow against the wall. “Shut up!”
The force of his grace cracked through the barn like a whip. The lights flickered, dust raining from the rafters.
Gabriel’s chest heaved. His entire body shook. His mind was spiraling. He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t— think…
Instinctively Elli reached for him, to pull him back. The tension flickered like a lightning through her as she entwined her fingers grabbed around his wrist.
“Gabriel…”, she just hitched and tried to pull for his arm. But her hand slipped by the tension it send through her body by that.
She turned to her foster brothers, seeking help. Her mouth opened slightly, but she said nothing. Dean's gaze was frozen, while Sam looked at her with a mixture of confusion and pity.
With a smooth movement of his hand, Osiris made chuck vanish, or the vision of him that had been sitting in the court.
Gabriel’s body seemed to relax a little bit, but just for a second. Osiris grinned knowingly and then pointed his scale on Elli.
“The next witness, please: Miss Elizabeth Singer”, he said demanding and the force on Elli, that dragged her to the chair vanished. She felt relief from the pulling.
“Stand up, Elli. Take a seat in the court please.”
Hesitating she stood up and under the burning gazes she slowly walked over and sat down.
The weight of her brother’s question eyes, almost took er ability to breathe. Her mind was racing and her chest too tight for her hammering heart against her rips.
“I don’t wanna do this…”, she mumbled desperately and looked up to the Egyptian god. He just titled his slightly.
“That’s not up to you, dear”, he said then. “This is not meant to be exposure for you, neither for him”, he pointed on Gabriel. “It is to bring to mind his guilt and let him weight his own guilt before himself. I’m not a judge, I’m just the moderator.”
There was a scoff from Dean. “That’s bullshit!”, he snarled. Osiris shot him a burning gazes. “It is not, Dean. You are all your own judges, I’m just here to moderate you in your own weighting to your guilt. You judge yourself!” His golden Egyptian eyes gleamed.
Dean rolled his eyes in mayor disbelief. “And the heart weight bullshit?”, he snarled. Osiris just clicked his tongue. “Oh, that was back in the days when I still ruled the underworld. We had no court like this, I just took their heart out and weighted it while it still beated…”, he said with a devilishly satisfied grin. Dean had to swallow and shut up immediately.
Osiris turned back to Elli.
Elli felt all sorts of miserable in this moment. The weight of her own heart was, unfortunately, almost too much to bear and the way Gabriel looked at her even more.
Full of guilt, regret and pain. She couldn’t take it and avoided to meet his eyes.
“Elli”, Osiris’ voice made her shiver slightly. “How many times did he leave and came back always telling you he’d never do it again?”
She took a moment, his words cut beeper than any knife. And the worst part? The amount of times he did had immediate popped up in her mind as soon as he finished his question.
“3…“, she just answered tonelessly and didn’t look up. She just couldn’t. And that she could hear Dean scoff made it even worse.
“And on what account?”, Osiris asked back. Elli had to take a deep breath.
“First time because I told him, I love him”, she could hear her brother made a disapproving sound. „Second time… I almost got killed during a hunt and he said if he wasn’t able to protect me from this stuff I’d be better off without him“, she said, with her voice slowly cracking.
She didn’t look up to Gabriel, just to her brothers. Dean gad his arms crossed, he’d always pointed the fault on Gabriel from the beginning and her words had just supported his opinion.
Elli still remembered it clearly, she had hardly been able to breathe, there had been so much blood... she hadn't been able to say exactly where she had been hit, her whole body had burned with pain. Gabriel had only said this one sentence to her...
„If I’m not even able to safe you how could I ever be worth to be around you?“
Then he had just briefly touched her forehead with his fingers and the pain and her injury had disappeared, just like him... for many weeks, several months, she had not heard from him. She had only felt this unstoppable emptiness, as if he had taken a part of her with him.
„And the last time?“, Osiris‘ voice pulled her back to reality. She finally looked up. Something had started to flame up inside her, besides the pain.
„He just left… after we had saved Dad from the hallucination dreams. He tried to follow me in my dreams to keep me safe, I don’t know whatever thought he’d seen that he…“, she cut herself off as she realized how she sounded and how she turned toxic.
Gabriel looked at her the whole time, his eyes lost their golden shine for a moment.
The Egyptian god turned his head slowly to Gabriel. What do you have to say in your defense?" he grinned with relish.
"I... I have no excuse, no explanation for this..." he admitted. What would it have done? He couldn't change it, even if he had moved worlds for it.
"That's enough, it's time we swap roles," Osiris then announced. He turned the staff briefly in his hand.
Elli stood up hecticly and rushed over to her brothers. Sam immediately grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him, as if she needed protection.
“Oh, you don’t need to hide her. She’s the next one I will hear.” Elli shivered by the way Osiris said that, like a threat…
“Elli, it’s your turn. Let us evaluate how much does your heart weight of guilt”, he announced and raised his hands as a gesture. “Is the world on your heart as much as on your dearly beloved Archangle?”
“You son of a-“, Dean tried to hiss but was immediately cut off. There were no more words coming out of his mouth though he silently screamed. No sound, Osiris had took his voice.
"Now, now, my dear," he said smugly. "We don't want to be offensive..."
He raised his stack again and sat up straight. “Time for our first witness”, he went on then and pointed next to him.
Elli’s knees were about to give out as she saw who stood right there.
“No…”, she gripped for her brother’s arm. She couldn’t believe it. Then she shot a gaze over to Gabriel.
He knew right away. And even in his mind the memories seemed to be now playing on repeat over and over again.
The wedding and the aisle and how Gabriel stood up from all the people as the priest asked if anyone had objections.
Danny just smiled a little as Elli looked at him. He seemed hurt, but like he was the time after she broke down the whole wedding on the day it should have taken place: he seemed to know before… and that’s what hurt he most of all. Knowing that he was aware of getting hurt in the end and still chose to give it a try.
“Danny, please tell us about your wedding day. What happened at the aisle?”, Osiris asked and turned to her ex-fiancé. He just lowered his eyes before he looked back up at Elli.
“This guy showed up and… spoke up when the priest said anyone that had objections should call them now or stay quiet forever.”
Elli felt the crack in her chest, the way he looked at her. He wasn’t over it… but how could one ever get over such a terrible thing?
She slowly walked past the table before them to get closer. “How did that make you feel?”, Osiris went on.
“I never felt more humiliated in my life. But actually what made me feel this way, was him… it was her…”, Danny said, his eyes never leaving Elli. “It was the way she looked at him. I know right away, I had no chance…”
Elli felt a few tears ran down her cheeks. The clarity in Danny's face only makes everything more unbearable for her. She almost collapsed under the guilt...
"I mean," he laughed bitterly. "Just the way he looks at her..."
Elli instinctively looked over to Gabriel, and she felt it as their eyes met. He felt his grace within her own soul, lingering and entwining. She didn’t do it on purpose.
“And how she looks at him…” Danny let out a breath, almost a laugh but there was no humor in it. Only something hollow.
“She looked at him exactly like that that day.”
She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Gabriel. From the way he was already looking at her.
The way it had wrecked him, knowing she had been with someone else.
The same way it had wrecked her back then, when he left.
She’d never felt more guilty in her life. Tears ran down her face. “I’m sorry, Danny… you deserved better…”, she sobbed. “You’re right… I would have at least deserved an explanation…”, he admitted bitterly.
Osiris snapped his finger and Danny vanished. No one said a word. No one could.
She carfully looked over to Gabriel. He looked wrecked. She slowly shook her head like she wanted to apologize, he just nodded knowingly.
Elli’s breath hitched. Her chest felt too tight, too full.
She finally looked at him.
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